Opening the eyes of students to the brokenness in America

The message of this high school leadership event is simple: BROKENNESS exists in the United States because of sin, but there is HOPE for redemption found in the message of the Gospel and the person of Jesus Christ. The GOSPEL compels us to RESPOND to the pain and suffering around us.

Please join us as we hear from individuals and organizations that are taking action to bring justice, healing, and restoration to our society.

 

 

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The Lyceum Challenge 2012

The ACSI World Concerns Conference is proud to partner with The Lyceum Challenge. Their materials will provide a practical way to incorporate the information from the conference into the school setting. Their 30-lesson curriculum will include student research, engaging discussions, interaction with expert Christian worldview mentors, and the development of a strategy to address the complex issue of poverty. For more information, visit their website.

2012 Speakers:

John Stonestreet

Executive Director, Summit Ministries

John Stonestreet’s passion is to illuminate a biblical worldview for today’s culture. He’s a speaker, writer, cultural commentator, and collaborator of worldview initiatives. In his shared role with the Colson Center/Breakpoint and Summit Ministries, John directs conferences and curriculum projects, speaks to groups nationally and internationally, consults on worldview education for schools and churches, and appears frequently on web and radio broadcasts.

As the new host of The Point, a daily national radio program, John provides thought-provoking commentaries on current events and life issues from a biblical worldview. This short-feature speaks to listeners right where they are at…facing challenges and cultural questions that all of us deal with on a daily basis.

John holds degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (IL) and Bryan College (TN), and is the co-author of Making Sense of your World: A Biblical Worldview (Sheffield Press). He and his wife Sarah have three daughters and a dog, and live in Colorado Springs, CO. Connect with John at ThePointRadio.org.

Garland Hunt

President, Prison Fellowship

As president of Prison Fellowship, Garland Hunt speaks about the hope of Christ to inmates across the country and directs the efforts of the ministry’s army of committed staff and volunteers. He came to the ministry in 2011 with high-profile experience in state-level criminal justice. For six years, including two years as chairman, he served on the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles; and Governor Sonny Perdue appointed him to be Georgia’s commissioner of juvenile justice.

In addition, Garland has previously served as the executive pastor of  The Father’s House and vice president of a community ministry organization, both based in Atlanta. He was also a pastor at Raleigh International Church in North Carolina from 1993 to 1999. Though a native of Atlanta, Garland earned his bachelor’s degree and his law degree from Howard University in Washington, D.C. He and his wife, Eileen, have three adult children: Garland Jr., Christa, and Jeremy.

Bernadette Todd

International Speaker and Missionary

Doctors once said Bernadette Todd would not live past the age of eight due to an infantile form of muscular dystrophy, but God had other plans for this remarkable lady. Today, despite severe muscle weakness and being confined to a wheelchair, Bernadette is very much alive and influences others to look beyond their circumstances to God. She is a wife and homemaker and travels around the world as a missionary and speaker, encouraging and challenging thousands with her personal story of hope.

Bernadette’s unique ability to transparently blend humor with the serious issues of her life experiences allows her to connect with people of all ages. As you listen to her speak, you will laugh, cry, and rejoice at what God has done in her life. You’ll find hope as she stirs emotions, touches hearts, and impacts lives. Her message is based on the first-hand knowledge that God uses our darkest days to draw us closer to Him and ultimately create beauty. Bernadette’s story of survival is powerful and transforming, reminding us that God has a purpose, even in our weakness.

Bernadette’s life mission is to spur others to enthusiastically seek after God-no matter what. She and her husband Jeff have been married for 24 years and currently live in Florida.

Elizabeth Scaife

Director of Training, Shared Hope International

Elizabeth Scaife is the director of training at Shared Hope International, a nonprofit organization building restorative responses and services to women and children victimized by sex trafficking. She earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern Mississippi before spending eight years in full-time ministry and missions, traveling through thirteen countries worldwide.

In 2009, Elizabeth directed a national awareness campaign, Kids are Not For Sale, in Las Vegas, Washington DC, and Chicago, and presently leads the national Do You Know Lacy? billboard campaign to raise awareness about the role of demand in child sex trafficking. Elizabeth trains law enforcement, service providers, as well as community members across the U.S. on the issue of domestic minor sex trafficking (DMST).

She is currently an active member of both the Washington DC and Northern Virginia Human Trafficking Task Forces and the Virginia Coalition Against Human Trafficking, serving on the community awareness and training subcommittees.

She has worked undercover with other professionals to document child sex trafficking, appearing most recently on a nationally recognized program, Our America with Lisa Ling.

Kathy McReynolds

Director of Academic Studies, Christian Institute on Disabilities

Kathy is a professor in the Bible Department at Biola University where she has taught for the past 12 years. In July 2007, Kathy became the director of public policy at the Christian Institute on Disability at Joni and Friends, and she currently serves as the director of academic studies for the Institute.

Her published writings include numerous books and articles, and most recently the new curriculum, Beyond Suffering, which will provide certificate level and college and seminary credit in disability ministry.

Kathy graduated with a BA in Christian Education at Biola University, and then went on to earn an MA in Systematic Theology at the Talbot School of Theology. Later, she earned her PhD in Ethics from USC where she specialized in ethical issues in genetic enhancement research. Because of her background, she has served on the ethics committee of three different hospitals in California.

She lives in Oak Park, CA with her husband Mike, and three children: Jessica, Moriah, and Jeremiah.

Joe Baker

Founder, Save the Storks

Joe is creative, bold, unashamed of the Gospel, dedicated to the cause of life, and passionate about inspiring this next generation to take a stand. He began his stand for the truth in high school by challenging his local public school board about the way evolution was being taught. His challenge caught the attention of both Christian and secular news outlets. The experience of publicly declaring his beliefs cast a vision that led him to literally wear his beliefs on his sleeve.

Joe founded Love Offensively Ministries in 2005 as a Christian t-shirt company that hopes to empower high school students around the country to share their beliefs on moral hot topics such as virginity, pornography, and abortion. Joe is also the founder and owner of Save The Storks, a pro-life ministry that is using innovation and counseling at the door of abortion clinics to encourage abortion-minded women to keep their babies.

Joe is newly married to his lovely wife Ann. Together, they are committed to living a life that reflects and embraces the adventurous nature of God the Creator. They are regular bloggers who weekly share the stories of their marriage, faith, and travels at Wild Love Story.

Mike Yankoski

Author and Speaker

Several years ago Mike Yankoski took off a semester from college between his sophomore and junior years to do something a little uncanny.

He was homeless. For five months, in six different American cities, Mike and a friend named Sam intentionally ate from trash cans and Rescue Missions, slept under bridges, and panhandled in order to survive. They chose to do this not only in order to better understand the plight of the American homeless, but more specifically to observe how the Church and Christians were interacting with this despised corner of American society.

Mike’s book Under the Overpass: A Journey of Faith on the Streets of America (Multnomah, 2005) captures his journey on the streets and relates the people and experiences that forever changed his life during that five month journey. Today, Mike has a passion to push Christians to live an active and out loud lifestyle of faith, directed by God’s will, centered on His Word, and engaged with the surrounding world.

Mike and his wife Danae are studying for their Masters Degrees at Regent College in Vancouver, B.C. When they aren’t buried in books or writing papers, their hobbies include road biking, running, hiking, and backpacking. Their new book, Zealous Love: A Practical Guide to Social Justice (Zondervan, 2010) enables Christians to respond to eight global areas of social injustice.

Lila Rose

Founder and President, Live Action

Lila Rose, a recent UCLA graduate, has dedicated herself to building a culture of life and ending abortion. At age fifteen, Lila founded Live Action, a pro-life nonprofit which specializes in investigative journalism, media and youth education. Live Action works to expose abuses in the abortion industry and advocate for human rights for the pre-born. Live Action also hosts the leading social media presence for the pro-life movement.
Lila has led numerous undercover investigations exposing corruption and illegal activity at Planned Parenthood, the nation’s biggest abortion chain. Her work has documented rampant sexual abuse cover up, racism, medical misinformation, the willingness to assist sex traffickers, and false statements made by Planned Parenthood executives.

As a freshman at UCLA, Lila founded the pro-life student magazine The Advocate. The Advocate is now the largest pro-life student publication in the country, distributed at over 300 high school and college campuses with a circulation of 200,000.

Lila is a frequent guest on radio and television programs, including The O’Reilly Factor, The Glenn Beck Show, CNN, EWTN, and The Laura Ingraham Show. Numerous newspapers and blogs have also covered her work, including feature pieces by Reuters, the LA Times, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Times, and National Review.

Bruce Main

President, UrbanPromise

For the past twenty years Bruce Main has served as executive director and now president of UrbanPromise ministries in Camden, New Jersey. UrbanPromise, founded in 1988, is a ministry that seeks to revitalize impoverished urban communities through Christian-based comprehensive youth development programs. All of their programs focus on equipping children and teens from under-resourced communities with the skills necessary for academic achievement, life management, spiritual growth, and Christian leadership.

Bruce and the work of UrbanPromise are featured regularly in local media outlets and were recently highlighted on Diane Sawyer’s 20/20 special, “Waiting on the World to Change” and ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

Bruce has written five books and has co-authored another, Revolution & Renewal: How Churches Are Saving Our Cities, with Dr. Tony Campolo.

He is a graduate of Azusa Pacific University, Fuller Theological Seminary, and he earned a Doctorate of Ministry from Princeton Theological Seminary.

Dr. Main lives in New Jersey with his wife, Pamela, and their three children.

The 2012 World Concerns Conference is sponsored by:

*Platinum

 

*Gold

 

 

 

 

 

 

*Silver